A BRIT is feared dead after militant Islamists allied to al-Qaeda took dozens
hostage at a BP gas plant in Algeria, state media report.

The heavily-armed terror gang, said to be around 60 strong, claims to have
seized up to 41 foreigners – including seven Americans – in a dawn raid on
the facility, allegedly in retaliation for France’s intervention in
neighbouring Mali.

Prime Minister David Cameron said “several” British nationals have been caught
up in the attack.

The terrorists have mined the energy complex and threatened to blow it up,
reports say.

Other seized workers included French, Japanese and Norwegian nationals. One
kidnapped Brit is said to hold a Northern Irish passport.

A security guard is also reported to have been killed during the attack at the
gas facility near In Amenas in the east of the North African country.

Mr Cameron has chaired a 45-minute meeting of the Government’s crisis
committee Cobra on the incident.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Cameron’s official spokesman said: “The ongoing
incident has involved various nationalities, including several British
nationals.

“We are working with BP to support the families of staff and provide consular
assistance.”

The Algerian army has launched an operation to recover the hostages from the
Islamist militants allied to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) known as
Khaled Abul Abbas Brigade, said to have travelled up from northern Mali.

The British Foreign Office confirmed that more than one British national was
“caught up” in the terrorist attack.

One Algerian security official said forces have surrounded the kidnappers and
negotiations for the release of the hostages are ongoing.

Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore said his government was “ready to
use all the resources available to us to ensure that our citizen is released
as soon as possible”.

The attack comes as French ground forces are preparing to engage Islamist
militants in Algeria’s southern neighbour, Mali. Algeria has been allowing
French aircraft to use its air space to attack targets in Mali.

The gas field is run by oil giant BP in partnership with Norwegian state
energy firm Statoil and Algerian state oil company Sonatrach.

A BP spokesman said: “The site was attacked and occupied by a group of
unidentified armed people at about 0500 UK time. Contact with the site is
extremely difficult, but we understand that armed individuals are still
occupying the In Amenas operations site.”

Algeria interior minister Dahou Ould Kablia said there would be no
negotiations with the hostage takers as Algerian troops and helicopters
surround the base.

Speaking on national television, he said: “The authorities will not
respond to any of the terrorists’ demands and refuse all negotiation.”

Around 150 local Algerian staff are detained at the base after the attack by “around
sixty” Islamists.

The Algerian employees are said to have been given freedom to move around the
base without leaving it, while the foreign hostages locked up in a corner of
the base.

Brig. Gen. Abdel-Khaleq Ibrahim, commander of Libya’s border guards, said his
forces had fired on two vehicles coming from the Algerian gas fields
carrying hostages in the early hours of the morning, forcing them to flee
into Tunisia, about 155 miles to the north.

An unconfirmed number of Algerian workers at the gas field have reportedly
been released while foreign nationals were kept hostage.

Islamist militants in the region have in recent years seized a number of
foreigners, mainly in Mali. Eight French nationals are currently being held
across the region.

The Khaled Abul Abbas Brigade is led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former AQIM
senior commander who set up his own armed group last year after an apparent
fallout with militant leaders.